N4613W - '76 112TC - Brad Peterson

I purchased my Commander 112TC in 2002 shortly after the attacks of September 11. I am the Commander of a F-16 Fighter Group in Fort Smith, Arkansas. I live in Denver, where I am a pilot for United Airlines. There is no direct airline service between Fort Smith and Denver and the most direct path was through Dallas or Tulsa. Either way it was a 7 hour trip. I needed a quicker way to get back and forth so I decided to buy an airplane. I had not flown light airplanes in nearly 20 years, but I knew I needed something that would go for 6+ hours and get about 150 knots. I looked at a number of airplanes on the market, with no real direction in mind. When I saw the Commander for the first time I was sold. In fact, I took a demo flight and bought the airplane the next day. The owner had bought it new in 1976 and had lost his medical at age 78.

Since that first flight experience, I have been completely impressed with the airplane's design and performance. I get the question all the time; isn't flying a Commander 112 boring after a F-16 and an Airbus 320. My response is always the same. The Commander is more challenging, more enjoyable, and more satisfying than any flying I do. I fly about 1000 hours a year and about 200 of that is in the Commander. I run back and forth to Fort Smith twice a month, 8 hours round trip. I have flown it to both coasts, San Diego and Washington DC. Last summer I flew it to Orlando for a Disney trip. I can not believe the joy I get from being able to fly my personnal plane to any destination I want. No more security checks, delayed flights etc. The hours in cruise fly by in the spacious cockpit, with dinner and a movie, I'm there in no time at all.

The airplane was in good shape when I got it, but not flown very much. I virtually took apart everything I could legally touch and cleaned and fixed everything I could think of. Last summer I decided the 30 year old interior had to go. I replaced the carpet, and in the process soundproofed the whole interior. I pulled all the seats and had them redone in leather, then I painted the plastic interior pices to match. In the process I fixed any cracked plastic with fiberglass patches. I thought it was a weekend project, but it turned into a 4 month project. I got finished just in time to leave for Iraq in June 2005 for a couple months.

My wife asks me how I can spend so much time at the hanger, but I love every second, and she thinks the newer interior is pretty nice too!!!

I have not upgraded the panel yet. I had a Engine monitor installed and I replaced the Apollo Flybuddy Loran 800 with a slide in Apollo Flybuddy GPS 820. My A&P moved the antenna and I was in business.

I'll never run out of projects, but I love the plane. Glad to be part of the Commander Community, even if it happened by luck!!